Early Present

Isis and I had our first special girls' night out to see "The Nutcracker." This was actually highlights from the Nutcracker so it was perfect for us. Isis was super excited to see the "ballets" (ballerinas), and thrilled when she recognized the music during the performance.

She had to show off her ballet skills during intermission.

Checking out how the nutcracker works.

One happy, well-behaved girl.

It was fun doing something with just the two of us. We had a great time.

I love this girl!

Christmas time fun

At our local park they brought snow to Las Vegas. Exciting! Except it was quite the disappointment. A 50' x 50' patch of snow cone ice. With an hour+ wait to play/sled on it....

Still, Isis wanted to go to the snow. Really, I couldn't wait that long for a 5 minute snow stint... but I still wanted to follow the rules and not make everyone waiting in line hate us. So I just let her lean over the hay bales and make snowballs. As long as she was touching the hay it wasn't cheating, right? We also made a mini snowman and footprints. Then time to go. :)
Elise on her first Christmas tree picking excursion.

Decorating the tree

Showing the Christmas tree to her stuffed animals.

Our traditional gingerbread house making.

(Elise was just too tired for this year's decorating.)

Notice the princesses in the candy. They have to have some fun too.

Isis loves the sprinkles

(again, another full container)

Her poor puffy stitched up lip doesn't interfere with her masterpiece

"Look Mama, it's raining sprinkles!"

Daddy's house needs a little help

The sprinkles got a little out of control.

Meeting Santa for the first time. Isis was very excited but also shy. However, she didn't hesitate to tell him she wanted a pink Barbie.

All were a great start to the Christmas festivities!

Snow Day

Great Uncle Stephen sent us a Christmas package. At first I thought it was literally just a box of styrofoam peanuts. (It is totally something he would do.) It turns out that was as good a present as anything. I told Isis she could get in the box of "snow".

Shortly thereafter I walked in on this...

"Look, Mama, it's snowing!"

There were THOUSANDS of peanuts. It was already a mess so we played in it for an hour or so.

Isis loved it.

But as with all messes, they must be cleaned up. This one proved tricky as there was SO MUCH and vacuuming blew them away, didn't suck up big chunks, or created static making them jump to the wall. What else can you do with snow but shovel it? :)

It's the first time in 5 years I've pulled out our snow shovel.

It also took an HOUR to clean it up. Oh well. :)

Thanks Uncle Stephen for our fun Las Vegas snow day!!

Elise turns ONE!!

My baby girl is ONE!

Her stats: height 30" (already half as tall as her mom), weight 23 lbs 9 oz.

Isis was excited to help get ready for Elise's special day. Yep, used two new full jars of sprinkles.

These are honestly the best birthday cupcakes I have ever seen. They couldn't have looked happier be more sincerely made.

Mad we didn't let her touch the cake before the birthday song.

Amazed by the candle.

Upset it got blown out.

Inspecting this thing called cake.

No use being timid in trying new things.

Do you know this stuff tastes like this?

What happens if I poke it?

Aha, it sticks to my fingers...

...and I can eat more of it!

My sister cracks me up!

(I love this picture)

Being one is totally awesome!!

Happy Birthday to me!

First Stitches

Isis was playing with a friend jumping on a bed. We didn't see what happened, just A LOT of blood. (We think she hit a sewing machine because she said she fell on a machine.)

Poor Isis.

Just in case you couldn't see the gross second mouth...
9 stitches later...

She was a brave girl and didn't scream at all after the initial cut. They gave her a lot of different meds to numb everything before they started the sutures. Because it was a plastic surgeon with ity bitty thread, she probably won't have much of a scar.

Now they're gone and you really can't tell unless you are looking for it.

What a trooper. Better than her mom. I was okay with the blood. It was watching them sew up my baby that got me nauseous.

Hawaii!!!

At the beginning of November Jeremy told me he would have to be traveling for work... to Hawaii. It took me less than 30 seconds to tell him I would be coming with him. I immediately called my mom to see if she could watch the girls the week after Thanksgiving. Yep. And that was it. I bought my ticket. :)
Jeremy was supposed to work Monday-Wednesday. (We were leaving Thursday night.) When he got there they told him he wouldn't be needed on Wednesday and then he only worked until noon on Tuesday. So basically we got a free 5-day Hawaiian vacation. Thanks work!! (The guy who had Jeremy come teach actually asked if he'd be interested in working for them. So maybe we'll move over there in the future. :) )

Right across from our hotel in Waikiki

First stop off the airplane was Pearl Harbor
There's a quiet, somber, reverence here.

Names of those fallen.

USS Arizona

Again, steps from our hotel.

View to the left from our 12th floor balcony

View to the right

Monday morning was really weird for me. I woke up when Jeremy went to work... then didn't know what to do with myself. While walking around some shops I realized how awkward I must have looked because I had no idea what to do with my arms. I wasn't holding (lugging) a 25 pound baby, or holding a three-year-old's hand, or pushing a stroller OR cart. I folded my arms, switched and stuck my hands in my pockets. I'm serious, I really felt retarded. Wow, it's been a while since I've gone out by myself... I think I got over it, eventually.

While Jeremy was working I decided to go snorkeling in Hanauma Bay.

(Like the underwater self portrait? :))

I could hear this fish chipping off pieces of the coral. I followed him around for a while because I was so amused by it.

My new acquaintance friend Rose, from Australia, took this picture. We met on the shuttle to Hanauma Bay.

On our romantic beach walk.

Crazy, awesome trees... that I never found the name to. It's like there are hundreds of trunks for one tree that grow FROM the branches. Very cool.

While Jeremy was working Tuesday morning I took a city bus and visit Iolani Palace.

Our drive around the island on Wednesday.

Swimming at Kailua Beach. We LOVED this beach! It was beautiful and uncrowded. (That could have been because it was crazy windy that day.)

I LOVED all the flowers

In the Dole Maze Jeremy's way was blocked by a wandering peacock.

(The maze was all we had time for)

Going on a submarine tour

sunken plane

You really can't see it at all but there is a sea turtle sleeping on the very end of this ship.

Light (obviously) gets filtered the deeper you go in the water so you see colors differently.

Here's our water bottles at the surface.

And here they are at 109 feet down.

(Maybe they don't look different to you... but they did. :) )

The sub

Our last stop before the airport was the Laie Temple.

It was great being able to go and not having to find a babysitter! :)

It was such a fun, sporadic, happy trip. I feel SO LUCKY to have been able to go with Jeremy. It was fantastic to be just the two of us for a little while. But the trip was just long enough that I did start to miss my girls. :)